Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Glittering World Anthology
The Night of the Coyote Moon ©2020 Trinity Blacio
Choosing His Mate ©2020 Elle Boon
Nadleehi ©2020 Stephanie Burke
Pack Lands ©2020 Barb Shuler
The Alpha’s Challenge ©2020Jamie K. Schmidt
Craving ©2020 Wendi Zwaduk
Wolf Healer ©2020 Lia Violet
Her Way Home ©2020 Kate Richards
Sunset Moons ©2020 L. Loren
The Warrior’s Whisper ©2020 S.E. Smith
Cover art by Wicked Smart Designs
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
Foreword
The Night of the Coyote Moon
Choosing His Mate
Nadleehi
Pack Lands
The Alpha’s Challenge
Craving
Wolf Healer
Her Way Home
Sunset Moons
The Warrior’s Whisper
The Glittering World Anthology
Foreword
Welcome to The Glittering World Anthology... I am grateful I have the ability to use my talents as an author to help others. This anthology was created with love thanks to the support of my fellow author friends to help the Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. All proceeds from the sale of the anthology will go to the Navajo Nation. This Christmas, I’m looking forward to releasing another charity anthology to help the Pine Ridge Reservation. We hope you enjoy the 10 original stories inside. Please post a review, share with your friends, and help us make a difference!
Trinity Blacio
Two lonely hearts are destined to find each other, but will that be enough?
“Be still, and the earth will speak to you.” Navajo Proverb
One chance to find his chosen.
Every hundred years, Coyote is given one week to find the woman who will complete him, but it is also the time when he is at his most vulnerable. If he doesn’t succeed, he is destined to wait another hundred years. Tired and lonely, he can feel his resolve to stay strong weakening until he sees Dibe.
Dibe lives to serve her people, but deep in her heart, she is lonely. She craves the man in her dreams. A man who will be there for her and only her, but can such a man exist? Two lonely souls are destined to find each other. Will the short time Coyote has be enough to convince Dibe he is the warrior to stand beside her, or will she choose her tribe over him?
The Night of the Coyote Moon
By
Trinity Blacio
“What is wrong, Dibe?” her mother asked, coming up to her and wrapping an arm around her waist as Dibe stared out at setting sun.
“Something is calling to me, Momma, and I don’t know what it is, but I have this need to visit the Cliff Dwellers House. Would you mind if I took Rosy? She needs a good run. It’s been a while since Papa has had time to do it.”
“Take the car. It’s too late for Rosy, plus I don’t want you out there alone right now. The winds are shifting. Stop and pick up Mac if you must go,” her mother said, reaching in her pocket, pulling out the keys to the beat-up car.
Dibe took the keys. “I need to do this alone, Momma.” She leaned over, placing a kiss on her mother’s cheek. “But, I promise to be careful.”
For the last two weeks, Dibe had been having dreams of a man. But this man was different; it was as if he was searching. That part of him inside was missing, and Dibe didn’t know how, but her gut, her sixth sense told her soon she would meet this person. That she was the one he was looking for.
It didn’t help that every time she did dream of this certain man, she woke to an organism and her body trembling. At the age of twenty-six, Dibe was tall but also a little overweight. One of her best features she thought was her hair—long, black hair braided down her back. Yes, she tried to lose the weight, but it wasn’t important to her. What was important was helping her people.
Dibe grabbed her purse, a few bottles of water, phone, and headed toward the car, moaning when she saw her father there leaning against the car door waiting for her.
“Mom,” she glanced over her shoulder, opening the front door.
“Don’t ‘mom’ me. We are in a dangerous time here, young lady. I will not have my only daughter out there without protection.”
“But, Dad?” she mumbled, moving toward her father. Still to this day, Dibe didn’t know her parents communicated with each other, because there was no way they had known before now what she was going to do. But that was another puzzle to figure out later.
At the age of fifty-six, her father was a powerful figure standing at six foot two. Once he turned those dark eyes on her, she knew something was about to change her plans. “Are you really going to go with me?” she asked, looking up at her father as she stepped up to him.
He smiled, reaching over and tucking a piece of her hair back. “No, but I will be watching with your uncles.” His father looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, all four of her uncles were there on horses, her father’s horse there also, waiting for him.
She cocked her head to the side. “You know, don’t you? Did you have dreams of this man?”
Her father leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “We all have our destinies, and it would seem yours has been searching for you for a very long time. Don’t know how I feel about having a son-in-law a thousand times older than me,” he grumbled, moving away from the car.
“Son-in-law? Dad, you are not making any sense. Did you smoke some of that stuff again?” she asked, and he laughed, jumping onto his horse.
It always took her breath away, seeing her father and his brothers all up on their horses—each one powerful and souls of the old ones. As long as she could remember, her mother told her stories of how her father’s family had some kind of magical connections with the Earth.
And to this day, Dibe had seen this a number of times, almost making her wonder if she, too, had been given something special.
She sighed, throwing her purse in the car, along with her water and phone. It was time, but inside, Dibe was kind of glad her father would be watching with her uncles because her mother had been right. Lately, three girls, one her cousin, had gone missing, and that scared the piss out her.
***
Coyote stared down at what the humans called Marble Cannon. It was a stunning place, but the sorrow that hung in the air was thick. He could almost taste it. His people were scattered everywhere. He didn’t know when the last time he’d come across one. They, too, pretty much st
ayed hidden, sometimes sleeping, only a few hundred of them alive.
Some would call them god-like creatures, but Coyote knew the great ones, met the great ones, but was not one of them and wouldn’t want the pressure they are under listening to the cries of the people all the time. Sure, he had helped when there was a need to, but mostly, Coyote was a loner, walking or releasing the animal, running from place to place.
He turned, heading down the dirt path he’d found, another journey about to begin. Coyote had one week to find his woman, or again, he’d walk the Earth alone. There had been many women in his lifetime, but none soothed his soul, healed his heart, and kept his attention longer than a night. Would he meet her today, tomorrow?
Yes, his father had been right. That one day had come. Coyote now wanted that family. Children to raise and someone to love who would stand beside him for however long they chose. Immortality did have its pitfalls, and one of them was loneliness. Another reason a number of his species chose to move on to the next world, hoping to find their other half there.
Coyote stopped, sensing others close. He looked up on the ridge, and sure enough, four men, yet not men, sat on their animals watching him. Did they not want him on their land? Did they know who and what he was? After years of trouble, Coyote knew how to battle, to fight, but right this minute, he didn’t have it in him.
He scanned around him, knowing he was missing something when he saw the car parked by the different stones. His heart jumped as he watched the woman step out of the vehicle and wave to the men above.
She was here. His woman was here, and he was frozen where he was. Her hair was long, and what he could see, almost like that of silk in the night light. Coyote wanted it out of that braid so he could run his fingers through it, but when she slowly turned around as if searching...
Her gaze met his, and even from this distance, Coyote could see the surprised looked on her face as if she recognized him. Did she get the dreams of him, like his mother had of his father before they found each other? Were all the stories true he had been told? Could this woman be his other half he’d been searching for all these years?
Coyote didn’t have any choice, moving toward the woman, his woman. She stood still, watching. She had the biggest brown eyes, full lips, her skin a little bit darker than others, but it was stunning. She was tall but would fit perfectly up against his seven-foot frame, and the curves had his cock hard as a rock.
He stepped in front of her, glancing back up at men on the horses. “Are they going to shoot me?” he asked.
She smiled and glanced back up at the men. “No, they are my family, protecting me. I have a feeling they, too, knew you were coming. I am called Dibe, and you?” she asked.
“Dibe, lamb, you are my little lamb,” he reached up and cupped her cheek. “I’m called Coyote.”
***
As a child, Dibe was always teased about her name and hated it, but hearing the way this man said it, staring at her, melted something inside her. Even though she was young, Dibe had been hurt, but somehow, she knew in her soul he was the one.
She reached up and took his hand. “Come, meet my family,” Dibe said, pulling her toward the car.
“I would rather get to you know you, my little lamb,” he said, lifting her hand up, placing a kiss on it.
“Those men up there will follow us everywhere. They are my family.” She smiled and glanced over at the tall man. His skin was darker, and his eyes seemed to come alive every time she met his gaze. “It is important to me that my family meets you, Coyote. I don’t know if you have been here long, but three women my age have gone missing, so I’m afraid they are very protective. Plus, I wouldn’t want to worry them.”
Coyote stopped, looked up to where her father and uncles were. “The Coyote Moon is in six days,” he said, looking back at her.
“What will happen in six days? You’re not going to disappear, are you?” she asked, at the same time reaching up and rubbing her chest. The heaviness inside her at just the thought was almost painful.
“Relax, little lamb, wherever you are, I will be there. But yes, there is much I must explain about our people,” he said, squeezing her hand before going around to the other side of the car and getting in.
Dibe glanced up at her father, and he nodded. It was one thing her father always knew what she was going to do. Some would be scared at the things her father could do, but growing up with them, Dibe knew her family was special; she just wished her cousin...
“Why so sad,” Coyote asked as she got into the car and started it.
“I was just thinking of my cousin, she’s one of the girls that have gone missing,” she said, pulling back out onto the road heading toward her home.
“I will speak to your father about this and see if I can help. Your family is now mine, and no one hurts my family,” he snarled, turning his head away from her.
“So, my dreams were true then?” she asked, gripping the steering wheel almost afraid of the answer but also knowing inside her heart her destiny had been chosen for her, just as her father had been chosen to lead their people.
“My mother told me she had dreams before she was found by my father.” He glanced back at her. “What did you dream, my little lamb?”
She smiled. “Where I would find you.” He frowned. “But, I also sensed that your heart was heavy as if you had given up somehow.” Dibe reached over and squeezed his arm. “Never give up, Coyote. We might suffer, and things might not always look bright and beautiful, but the great spirits are always there talking if you listen.”
He snorted. “I hear them too much. The old ones need to take a breather already,” he grumbled.
“You talk as if you know them personally. How old are you, Coyote? Is there a last name?”
“Just Coyote, and I have spoken with a number of our ancestors.” He smiled. “And I do believe I will hold off informing you how old I am right now. I need every advantage I can get here since we have one week for our courting.”
Dibe laughed. “Courting? Now I know you are old, and why just a week? What does the Coyote Moon have to do with our destiny?” Dibe asked as she pulled into her drive, heading down the dirt road toward her childhood home.
“Would you stop the car for a moment for me,” Coyote asked, staring out the window.
Without question, she stopped the car, putting it in park, watching as he got out of the car looking toward the east. She opened her door, getting out of the car, watching.
“They have been watching you,” Coyote snarled. “I do believe tonight I will run. It’s been a long time since I’ve allowed the animal out.” He glanced at her, and that is when Dibe saw the animal in his face.
This man wasn’t just a human but something special, a shifter, maybe more. “What are they watching? How many of them are here? Do you think they have my cousin?” she asked, hoping.
“I will find out, but Dibe, your cousin will not be the same if we do get her back,” Coyote said, again looking toward the east.
“How do you know those up there are involved?” she asked, knowing who he was speaking about, her father and uncles already having people on them. “Come, dinner will be ready here in a few,” she said, getting back in the car, getting uncomfortable, knowing that others were watching her.
“They will pay for what they have done,” Coyote said, joining her in the car. “It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and eaten with anyone.”
“Not to worry. It’s a simple meal we’ll share outside in the back of the house where there is shade and a breeze. I hope you like buffalo stew.”
“Did you cook dinner for me?” he asked.
Dibe shrugged her shoulders. “It’s nothing much; I usually try to cook for my momma. She works full time helping our people. Plus, kind of figured you would need a homecooked meal.”
“Do not try and diminish the gift you are giving me. I am honored that you would cook for me, and I’m sure anything you make wo
uld be delicious.” He leaned over, placing a kiss on her neck.
“We’re here,” she whispered, turning off the car, seeing her father and uncles approach slowly on their horses. It was time for Coyote to meet her family.
***
Coyote got out of the car, watching as his woman went to one of the men that rode up on the horses. He could now see the resemblance in her face to her father and could also see how important her family was by the way she greeted him.
“Yá’át’ééh ałní’íní, (Good evening), Papa, Uncles,” she said and turned to look at him. “I have brought someone for you to meet. He will be sharing dinner with us tonight. Coyote.”
He stepped up to her side as her father and uncles dismounted. “Dibe, why don’t you go help your mother with your brothers. We’ll be in shortly.”
“Papa?” she questioned, looking at Coyote then at her father.
“Relax, little lamb, it is time for the father to get to know me,” he said, smiling at the way she frowned, worry in her face.
“Fine. Men,” she grumbled, spinning around and going toward the simple home.
“My daughter respects the old ways some of the times. We knew you were coming, but I had no idea my daughter would be your chosen. I am honored,” her father said, bowing his head and holding his hand out.
“It is I who is honored. I had given up hope of finding the one that would stay with me. How much do you know of our people?” he asked, shaking the father’s hand then the uncles’.
“When we knew you would be coming, the elders told us of the stories, but much was lost over the years. You would share with us over food? I’m afraid there will be more than family here tonight.” Her father turned, and he sighed, seeing others arriving with dishes and such, moving around to the back of the house.
The Glittering World Anthology: Native American Romance Paranormal Fantasy Page 1
